Effect of Plantain Pseudostem Fibres and Lime on the Properties of Cement Mortar

Abstract

This study investigated the properties of cement mortar reinforced with plantain pseudo-stem fibres and lime. Experimental specimens with 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1% fibre contents by weight of sand and 10% lime content by weight of cement were prepared and tested on 7, 14, 21 and 28 days of curing for density, tensile strength, compressive strength, SEM and EDS. The 0.25% plantain pseudo-stem fibre reinforced mortar achieved 23.4% compressive strength improvement over unreinforced mortar specimens. There was between 6.89 and 13.80% increase in tensile strength of the plantain pseudo-stem fibre reinforced mortar over the unreinforced mortar specimens. A positive linear correlation was found between the compressive strength and tensile strength of cement mortar reinforced with plantain pseudo-stem fibres and lime with coefficient of determinant (R2) values between 0.909 and 0.869. It was also observed that the plantain pseudo-stem fibre reinforced lime mortar specimen had some micro-cracks and voids from the SEM analysis. Furthermore, The EDS analysis showed the presence of calcium silicate hydrate with a Ca/Si ratio of between 1.02 and 2.49, and Al/Si ratio of between 0.76 and 0.81 as the main oxide composition in the plantain pseudo-stem fibre reinforced lime cement mortar. It therefore concluded that the incorporation of plantain pseudo-stem fibre and lime positively influenced the properties of the cement mortar with the 0.25% fibre content being recommended for construction application.